


Friend Request

by Tashilover



Category: Red vs Blue, Slender Man Mythos
Genre: Creepy stuff, Slender Man - Freeform, Slenderman - Freeform, no gore or violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 01:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7825135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tashilover/pseuds/Tashilover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caboose made friends with everyone.</p><p> </p><p>A slender man fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friend Request

Here's the thing: Caboose made friends with everyone. It didn't matter if they were the Reds, fucking Church, or the guy who dropped off their supplies once a month. He made friends. With. EVERYONE.

There was a tree near blue base, and the previous occupations of the base had carved their names into the trunk. Caboose named that tree, 'Piney' though Tucker was pretty sure it was an oak tree.

For a short time last Spring, tadpoles sprouted near the water's edge. Caboose named them all as well, and then cried when they all left.

His naming of objects and talking of them like he's known them all his life would have been unbearable, but there was literally nothing else to do in this canyon. Besides, it often provided a steady stream of white noise for Tucker to listen to. Whenever the silence got too much, he would ask Caboose about his day with "Rocky, the odd-colored rock" and it would help lull Tucker into a sense of serenity.

It helped on days when it rained, when they couldn't go outside. Not even the Reds tried to engage them during the rainy season. Last time they tried to infiltrate the blue base during a storm, Simmons twisted his ankle slipping on a patch of grass, Sarge caught a fever, leaving Grif and Donut to take care of them.

It's been raining for the past hour. Church had already locked himself in his room, wanting to finish the last season of Game of Thrones uninterrupted. Caboose was happily sitting by the window, watching the downpour, and Tucker sat by his lonesome, trying to read one of the few books they had in the base.

"...you know, it's so strange he only comes out at night. Now that I think about it, we never actually met during the day. Gasp! Tucker, do you think my friend is a vampire? Hmmm... I don't think so. He's never sucked our blood. And also, he's been inside blue base like a million times already. He likes to watch Church sleep. And that makes me jealous, _I_ want to watch Church sleep!"

"Huh-huh," Tucker said. He was too busy flipping through the book, hoping to find a steamy love scene. Surely a book called _Winter of Entrapment_ had at least one sex scene in it.

"He's been inside in your room too. He's been in everything. The cupboards, the shower drains, one time I caught him crawling out of the closet."

Tucker didn't hear the entire sentence, but he caught enough of it to lift his head up from his book. "Wait, what? Who are you talking about?"

"My friend," said Caboose, still looking out into the rain.

"Dude, you have like, a million of them. It's one of the reasons why you're not allowed on Facebook anymore. You would spend hours on it, trying to accept everyone."

"Well, they all wanted to be my friend! I didn't want to deny them!"

"Whatever."

"Besides, those are my computer friends. I'm talking about my RL friends. Like the tall man!"

"Did you actually say _RL_? Caboose, that's... wait, who?"

"The tall man."

Tucker frowned. Caboose wasn't really imaginative with his names. If his friend was aptly named, 'The Tall Man' then the guy must've been... a tall man.

Except, Tucker still didn't know who Caboose was talking about. Caboose was the tallest of them all at 6'4. Then it was Simmons at 6'2. Both Tucker and Church were 6', while Sarge was at 5'11 and Grif at 5'9. Tucker didn't know the exact heights for Doc, but he wasn't taller than Simmons. "How tall is your friend?"

Caboose thought about it. "He's really, really, really... really tall."

"Yeah? Like 6'5? 6'7?"

"Do you know Oaky?"

"Your pine tree friend? Yeah."

"He's taller than Oaky."

"Bullshit."

"It is not bullshit! He's standing right next to Oaky right now!"

"What?"

Tucker tossed down his book. He got up and crossed the room to stand next to Caboose who was pointing out the window. "See? He's right there."

There was too much rain to see clearly. Tucker could barely make out the silhouettes of the canyon. Off in the distance he could see the outlines of the cliffs, the rise and fall of the hills, and some of the tress and rocks. Tucker pulled back briefly, saw Caboose was still pointing, sighed, and went back to look longer.

A flash of lightening illuminated the canyon for a split second, and it was then, Tucker saw him.

He was standing right by Oaky, as Caboose said. Before Tucker could even fathom of _who_ would stand out in the rain like this and _why_ would they stand out in the rain, his mouth dried, and a deep sense of unease coiled into his belly.

It had only been for a mere second. Clearly not long enough to see, but Tucker saw everything.

Caboose was right: the man was tall. Taller than Oaky, tall enough to tower over the tree. That tree was at least eight feet tall and the man was two heads taller. He was thin as well, his body looked more like a pile of sticks thrown together in a form of a person. But it was his arms that set Tucker on edge. His arms reached all the way to the ground, past his knees, disappearing into the shadows.

Tucker stumbled back from the window in surprise. His heart was pounding in his ears. "What the hell was that?"

"That's my friend!" Caboose added unhelpfully. "The tall man!"

"The... wait, and you say he watches us when we're asleep?"

"And when we're awake. And when we're eating. I don't know if he watches us while we're taking showers. That would be weird."

Tucker took another look out the window. The tall man was gone from his spot by Oaky.

"That's..." Tucker swallowed. "That's creepy."

Caboose nodded. "I know. He does that a lot."

 

 

 

 

 

Over the next few weeks, Tucker watched as Caboose continued his friendship with 'the tall man.'

Church never saw it- because he was an asshole like that- but Tucker was always aware. Sometimes Caboose said creepy, cryptic things like, "Oh, my friend is on the ceiling" or "I saw him in my dreams last night."

In the past Tucker would brush it off as Caboose just being Caboose. After seeing that... _thing_ in the rain, Tucker wasn't so sure. He used to enjoy his time alone, but now he was afraid of the silence. Blue base had a lot of long hallways, dark corners and hidden doors. He kept expecting to see a long pale hand come into view, followed by a faceless head. It never happened.

When Junior came along, his paranoia about the tall man was quickly pushed to the back of his mind. He had bigger things to worry about.

 

 

 

 

 

On the day Tucker left Blood Gulch, Caboose ran up to him to say goodbye. Or good riddance, depending on his mood.

"Goodbye, Tucker! Now that you're gone, Church and I can be best friends forever!"

It was good riddance. "Good luck with that, dude. Just remember, he likes it when you watch him sleep. Be sure to do that."

"Oh, my tall friend already does that."

Tucker forgot about the tall man. Yet another good reason to leave Blood Gulch and never return. "Right. See you, Caboose."

"Goodbye forever, Tucker!"

He continued to wave goodbye even as the doors to the ship closed, even as the engines roared into life. Tucker took his seat and watched out the window at Caboose still waving. He was sure his little blue companion was going to stay there until the ship was a dot in the distance.

Sure enough, two hundred feet into the air and Caboose was still waving. His tiny blue form barely stood out among the greenery. The ship passed over Blue base, and Tucker lost sight of Caboose.

The ship arched to the left, giving instead a view of Red base, the cliffs, the caves, the-

There. Standing there in the same exact spot where Church was killed so many months ago, was a tall, thin, black figure. From this height, he looked like nothing more than a poorly drawn stick figure standing against the brown of the cliff. Tucker didn't hear his heartbeat quicken, the engines were too loud for that, but he could feel it pounding heavily in his chest.

The tall man looked up at the ship. He waved.

That was the last thing Tucker saw of Blood Gulch before the ship kicked into gear and shot off into the sky.


End file.
